News: Academic Publishing Weekly

cOAlition S pricing framework, AI usage in the US, and a new award for early-career professionals in the book industry

Posted on August 2, 2024 in News

cOAlition S Unveils an Equitable Pricing Framework and Challenges Facing OA

Simba Information’s Open Access Journal Publishing 2024-2028 report reveals that despite the open access market increasing to $2.1 billion in 2024, the number of open access articles being published is declining. In particular, the report showed that the Directory of Open Access Journals received 3 percent fewer article submissions when comparing 2023 to 2022, the first time the directory experienced a year-over-year decrease. Simba Information looked at several trends including mergers, retractions, and various OA models. The report also featured profiles of top publishers and a market forecast. In other news, cOAlition S announced an equitable pricing framework created by Information Power in consultation with the scholarly publishing community. cOAlition S outlined the features of the framework and Colleen Campbell, OA2020 Coordinator, underlined that, “As a tool for exploring what regionally differential pricing might look like, the framework offers universities, research institutions, libraries, and consortia a valuable starting point in their open access negotiations with publishers and collaborative efforts to address financial barriers and foster a more equitable and inclusive environment.”

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AI’s Impact on Plagiarism and Usage in the US

Questions continue to abound over whether using unattributed content generated by AI constitutes as plagiarism. Nature’s Diana Kwon weighed in, considering current journal policies and the European Network for Academic Integrity’s position that such usage is “unauthorized content generation.” Kwon also acknowledged recent copyright lawsuits against AI companies, the widespread adoption of AI in academic writing, and how current AI detection efforts tend to fall flat. As Debby Cotton, a higher education specialist at Plymouth Marjon University, UK, underscored, “AI is becoming so embedded in everything we use, I think it’ll become increasingly difficult to know whether something you’ve done has been influenced by AI.” Despite plagiarism concerns, EMARKETER’s June 2024 forecast expects that “100.1 million people in the US will use generative AI at least once per month” this year. This marks a 900 percent increase from 2022 and means that over 30 percent of internet users in the United States will be utilizing the technology. EMARKETER noted the impact of covert applications of AI including Google Search and shared that the uptick in AI adoption is heavily influenced by its use in the workplace.

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A Look at Brown’s Born-Digital Scholarly Publishing Initiative and an Award for Early-Career Professionals

Brown University Library wrapped up its second Born-Digital Scholarly Publishing: Resources and Roadmaps institute last week. The institute enables Ph.D.-level scholars to learn from librarians about digital publishing and provides “training for scholars who wish to produce digital publications but may lack the necessary resources, expertise or capacity at their home institutions.” Brown shared that the hybrid program hosted scholars from 13 universities and was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Brown also mentioned that scholars had the opportunity to share their drafted publications, and recordings from the institute will be published later this year. In other news, the Society of Young Publishers (SYP) and The Publishing Post developed an award for early-career professionals in the book industry. Recipients of the First Chapter Award will be presented with several prizes including a year-long SYP membership and are judged “based on their passion, ability to support others and/or the wider industry, and dedication to achieving their personal and professional goals.” The award opened for applications on July 29th, and the winners will be announced in November at the SYP London Conference.

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University Press Distribution Updates and MDPI Books’ New Blog

Beginning this September, the Columbia University Press Sales Consortium will handle wholesale and trade sales for Stanford University Press. Distribution will continue to be managed by Ingram Academic and Professional. Next, Amsterdam University Press (AUP) announced that it will be taking on “production, marketing and sales” for Central European University Press’s titles. Jan-Peter Wissink, Managing Director of AUP, commented, “The combined lists will consist of a backlist of around 2,600 titles, a frontlist of nearly 200 titles and 50 journals, creating an excellent starting position for further growth, a stronger presence in core subject areas within the Humanities and Social Sciences and fertile ground for innovative Open Access initiatives.” Last, MDPI Books redesigned its website and created a blog on OA book publishing. The MDPI Books Blog will include “in-depth articles, interviews, and book highlights” to educate readers about the industry.  

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The 2024 Booker Prize Longlist and Forthcoming Fall Reads

The Booker Prize Foundation has released the 13-title longlist for this year’s Booker Prize for Fiction. Three writers are longlisted for their debut works, and Native American and Dutch authors grace the list for the first time. Of interest, Publishing Perspectives shared that the combined authors have published more than 100 titles. The shortlist is expected in September, and the winner will be announced in November. The Booker Prize Foundation also released sales figures for last year’s winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, which experienced a “1,500-percent increase in sales in the week following its win.” Looking ahead to the fall, Library Journal highlighted several forthcoming fiction and nonfiction releases. Nonfiction categories range from Nature Writing to “Pop Culture Redux,” and Gioia Diliberto’s October title, Firebrands: The Untold Story of Four Women Who Made and Unmade Prohibition from the University of Chicago Press, made the “Her History” list.

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